A Treatise of Human Folly

Two of archetypical creatures found in horror movies, zombies and vampires, have also found their way into philosophy. To eat the delicious, undoubtedly larger than average brains, and sweet, sweet blood of philosophers you might think. No, but as serious theories of the mind and humanity. Stop laughing.

( ”braaaaaiiiiinz!” )

A discussion I had with some local rpg-players got me thinking about the history of rpg-theory in Finland. The best known of theories was the one based on the text known as the Turku School Manifesto (it was displayed online not long ago, but I can't seem to find it anymore). It meant that for a long time, role-play - and especially larp - was viewed through these concepts. For those that don't know, Turku School ideas were based on the idea of immersion, or the player "becoming" more or less, the character. That idea has been elaborated and criticized since, but for (roughly) a decade, it was the way theory worked (in Finland), at least in practice if not in all discourses of theorists.

This was made painfully clear to me, when a friend of mine told me of her experiences with larp. She told me that she had felt like she was a "bad larper" for not feeling strong feelings of immersion or for not actively seeking them. For me, this was a clear example of how theory constructs our world and is, partly, power use. It wasn't until rpg-theories diversified, and there came alternatives that she found ways of experiencing larp in ways that weren't "wrong".

I never had particular problems with immersion, but I remember times in larp when I thought that "Now I should be feeling like my character" and not doing so. It didn't bother me overtly, but sometimes made me feel like an inferior role-player. Now, I realize that neither my friend nor I don't even (have to) strive for immersion, and I have enjoyed role-play more ever since.

And, if the study "Information, Immersion, Identity: The Interplay of Multiple Selves During Live-Action Role-Play" (it can be found from: http://www.rpg.net/larp/journal/) jiituomas conducted is to be believed, we are not alone. Immersion (as Turku School defined it) can be one of the ways role-play is experienced, but not all players experience the games similarly. So, if somebody claims that "this is the way games are supposed to be played & experienced", s/he is probably wrong. There are multiple ways, and I don't have to be a bad larper anymore.

Johann Huizinga's "Homo Ludens" is one the classics in the study of play. I've been trying to read it but I also have a lot of essays to return during spring so my reading has been dragging itself slowly toward summer. ( more on huizinga )

Also, I almost forgot to thank jiituomas of his feedback and suggestions. Thanks. I probably will choose a topic along the lines you suggested.

I've been trying to come up with a topic for my master's thesis for some time now. In March, I have to have some idea what I'm going to research. I suggested something related to play (or gaming), and was given thumbs up by the professors in charge of tutoring us. Now I have to discover what I am going study in my thesis; it seems that all the ideas I had have been examined by someone before me.

( Read more... )

Remember that game of Shadowrun I mentioned before? It died after some three playing sessions. However, it had too much potential & time spent on creating the ideas behind it to go to waste, so we decided to have another go at it, with a different GM.

The basic idea is that each character has a single theme related to activism, with social activism and environmentalism being the main topics. As the antagonist we have the all-powerful & ever-present corporations which symbolise all that is wrong with the world of 2070: pollution, inequality, social instability, racism etc. What brings the characters together is the common goal of breaking away from the flawed society and creating an utopia somewhere where the evil companies can't touch them. What is still left to be seen is how they intend to do this in practice - it is quite possible that it won't happen at all. Regardless, it will be (and to some extent has been) an interesting chance of looking at society and how it is changed, through the medium of role-play.

It's not something I usually write about*, but I read a few (older) posts by Thanuir about railroading, and I thought about commenting those posts.

I'm basically going to claim that 1) railroading is not (entirely) bad, 2) it happens in all games, and 3) it is not even a very good way of talking about the phenomenon, instead one should use the terms Montola uses. This is a warning, so that if you already agree and (or) know what I'm talking about, you can skip the rest. ( Read more... )

* I simply don't find the (post-)Forgean theory of role-play that interesting, although I acknowledge its usefulness.

I noticed something when I happened to watch a tv-program on games. It seems (and this is in no way rigorously analytical, just a hunch) that a (computer) game has "role-playing elements" if there is any progression in the abilities of character played. ( Read more... )

Kouvola Chronicle is finally (and regrettably) over. Now for the traumatic recovery.

I've been writing larp characters for some time now. It's been taking a lot longer than I suspected, partly because I've changed my way of writing a bit. I used to write with a flow-of-consciousness method, but I've been slowly learning and adopting process writing. I think the result is a bit better (and there are less typos and mistakes), but the downside is that I have to use more time to get (roughly) same results. Nevertheless, the characters are mostly written.

We tried using modular writing to save time and effort, and I still think it is a good idea. We should have used it from the beginning, and not just for the last game. I'm afraid the difference can be a bit of a culture-shock for the players, who have gotten used to the prose we have used before.

In another news: I tried finding the book, Rules of Play, I need for writing the article I was urged to write. Not surprisingly, it is being used by some researcher somewhere. Luckily, I happen to know a guy working at the same department, and he asked if I could have the book for a while. Now waiting for the answer.

I managed to present my bachelor's thesis last week's Tuesday. The final topic was a bit cumbersome "Play: the philosophy of art and play by Gadamer". It also had a subtitle of "comparison to a different concept of play". We have a mysteriously silent tutor (apart from the furious attack on this weeks presentation, something that caught us all by surprise), so I have no idea how it went beside the fact that it seemed to have been accepted. ( Read more... )

It is now done, and I can set it aside for a while. I soon have to come up with a topic for my graduation thesis, but I think I'll let the sleeping beasts lie for a time. Meantime, I probably should catch up with my reading - I still have some very basic texts of academic game study to read.

We've played Mike Pohjola's new game Tähti (Star) for a few times. ( Read more... )

I've been writing my bachelor's thesis since spring and it is nearly complete. It should, since I have to present it next month. I started with the vague idea that I want to write something related to gaming and I've more or less accomplished that. The topic is 'Play in the philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer'. ( Read more... )

We've started a new role-playing game, with an interesting subject. It's a game of Shadowrun, ( Read more... )

Ropecon was some time ago. I've been trying to concentrate on reading, so commenting on Ropecon is several weeks late. ( Read more... )

I've finally read something I've been meaning to read for a long time: the manifestos Dogma 99 and The Manifesto of the Turku School. While I understand, at least partly, the motivation behind these texts, I have to strongly disagree with both of them on some important facts. This is not surprising, as both we're written in a polemical style, especially the Turku Manifesto, it being a witty version of the Communist Manifesto.( Read more... )

It seems we are finally reviving the larp chronicle we have been writing for several years now. We already agreed that the next part will be the last; maybe this has been a factor in our involuntariness to complete it. Mostly I think that it was due to growing bored of the subject and the increasing difficulty of coming up with new themes to deal with. When we started writing the first part of the now (or soon) 6-parted chronicle it was pure enthusiasm that kept us going for the first few ones. It is surprising that the same themes and plots kept us going for so long.( Read more... )

We tested the questionnaire J. Matias Kivikangas has written for Alterations yesterday with mainly positive results. There were some minor complications that made me wonder afterwards: ( Read more... )

I've been spending way too much time in the Kingdom. And by that, I mean the Kingdom of Loathing, a humoristic MMORPG that is drawn almost completely with stick figures. It's hilarious and it is positively scary how much fun it is to catch rabbits in order to collect their livers.

On Matthijs Holter's article in Lifelike:

Holter argues that we (the writers, students and - ) should stop talking about immersion. He admits that there is something called 'immersion', but that it isn't constructive to use immersion as a term in writing about role-playing games and theory of role-play. I disagree and this is why:( Read more... )